"Yours for diversity...U.S. 101.
    Few trips anywhere in the country can offer as a great a variety of scenery and experience to the tourist as this 1,000-mile jaunt through California, from the Oregon line to the Mexican border  Part of this highway was El Camino Real, 'The King's Road', tramped by the Spanish padres.  Most of the time you are close to sea level and rarely as far as 25 miles inland.  Storied cities, majestic redwoods, wild flowers, mountains and seashore-you find them all when you travel U.S. 101!"  (Excerpt from a 1949 Shell Finger-Tip tour book).

    Highway 101 threaded it's way amongst the mighty redwoods and coastal areas of Northern California.  I'm sure this trip is still etched upon the minds of many Americans years later.  From the Crescent City/Klamath river area, check out the old Douglas bridge!  Though the bridge itself is gone, thankfully, the historic significance of this area was recognized in time to preserve a great piece of American roadie history-the south end of the bridge entrance.  To reach this old section of highway south of Crescent City, take the Klamath Coast Road Access west (just south of the new Klamath River Bridge-with the two cheesy gold colored bears as decor) about 1 mile.  Exit your car and be prepared for a time warp!  Compare the old bridge statues with this old linen postcard of the bridge (no PM).  I got pretty darn close to the right perspective for a good 'now & then' shot!

    Also, I don't know about you, but I'd rather travel this old section of highway versus the new highway!  This view of old 101 (see pic) was shot just a quarter mile south of the old Douglas bridge (looking back north).
 

    Can you believe it?  There once existed a point in my life when I didn't give a shiny penny for the history/character of a road or anything in between if it wasn't my final destination.  Roads existed to take me from here to there.  I first became somewhat interested in the old U.S. highways while working in Tucson, AZ  in '99/2000.  I discovered old Route 66 around this time, and thus began my budding interest.  When a new contract job carried me to Seattle, Washington, I grabbed the old 25-foot Ryder truck and moseyed on north.  Somehow (wink-wink), we ended up taking 101 through north-central California for a ways.  While cruising through the beautiful Mendocino area, I happened to come across the following old motel signs.  From the winter of 2000, check out the lonely Outpost Motel sign near Laytonville.  Guess the Outpost was a little too far 'out'.  Further south, I had noticed the Pepperwood Motel in Willits.  I don't have any notes on it besides the town, but I seem to remember it looked clean and well cared for.

Author's addendum, 12/09/05.  Thanks to Richard Buege, formerly of the area and now living in Wisconsin, we have the following information:  "Built between 1954 and 1961, inclusive, by Martin Johannes. There was more than one nail I pounded into the wood there, Marty was my uncle.  My brother and father also worked on it, as well as the house and workshop area. The placement was to remove the motel units, there were eight units in four buildings, from the noise of trucks on Hwy 101.  Marty was not native to the area, but was a fair to middling carpenter and cabinetmaker. Marty's standards for construction and finish were impeccable, when they were done, they were very nice indeed."  
Thanks for sharing with us Richard!

    Not being brave enough to take the Ryder truck through downtown San Francisco, I don't have any pictures of the area.  Perhaps someday I'll get the chance to explore, but until then, I have come across a couple of wonderful old linen postcards of the area I'd like to share with you.  So sit back, make yourself a sourdough sandwich and check out the stunning colors in this old postcard of the Golden Gate bridge (No PM-date unknown).  Perhaps an early traveler spent the night near downtown San Fran at the old Mission Bell (card has no PM...date unknown).  Can someone let me know if the Mission Bell is still there, or has it fallen by the wayside?? (See immediately below...)

Author's addendum thanks to Julie in Daly City: 
    "I thought I'd let you know that sadly the mission bell motel, just south of San Francisco, bit the big one a few years back. It's now a mini shopping complex. The motel had quite a colorful history. It even had a school on site at one point and they say that famous people stayed there a lot, Charlie Chaplin...Betty Davis...etc., because it was the only place that you could drive your car right up to your room.  Everybody who grew up in the area has at one time or another stayed there.  It was almost like a little city within a city with it's own gas station too at one time. It was built in 1916 and razed in 1993 or 94. It became run down and near the end became a "crack town" with drug dealing gone wild. Well, just another example of progress in these modern times I guess."

     Also, a very interesting transcript from our friend Eric Powel.  Eric shares with us some of his memories of, and current observations of 101 in Sonoma county:

     "As a child, I remember many times traveling north out of Santa Rosa on US 101. The freeway up through Healdsburg was new. Just about 4 or 5 miles north of Healdsburg, it ended and became 2-lane road that went right through Geyserville. Then it became freeway again just out of Geyserville, by the Asti wineries, and ended just south of Cloverdale. We always stopped at the Owl Cafe in Cloverdale for lunch or dinner. I think the Owl Cafe is still there. Out of Cloverdale, US 101 went over a little hill, down by a lumberyard, across the north end of Alexander Valley, over the Russian River. And then from about there, it would be a narrow road running along the east side of the river. Across the river was the train tracks and we'd see trains going in and out of train tunnels along there. This went on towards Hopland.  
     I was shocked in 1989 when I was driving back to Oregon after a visit to Santa Rosa. I decided to go up on 101. As soon as I left Cloverdale and went over that little hill, I found the straightaway across the valley, by the lumberyard had been cut short!  Next thing I knew I was on a brand new expressway going up high on the mountain side west of the river, way above the railroad tracks we used to travel with.  I could look down to the old road.  The expressway was the first phase of the current Cloverdale bypass and it ended right on the county line for Mendocino.  Today, it's freeway all the way up to the county line.  The south portion of the Cloverdale Bypass was completed sometime in the early 90s.  The old road still exist as the main drag for Cloverdale and the Owl Cafe is still there.  Continue through Cloverdale, up and over the hill to the straight across the valley, you'll end up at the interchange for the freeway. Continue straight and it's a dead-end!  That bridge across the Russian River was taken out.  The narrow highway that ran along the east side of the river is now a part of Geyser's road.  To access that, take the new highway up to the Mendocino County line.  Then make a right on Geyser's road. T hen you'll be going southbound on the old highway and you'll end up on Geyser's Road itself.  However if you veer right, you'll get the newly made cul-de-sac on the other side where the bridge was taken out.  After crossing the north end of the valley and crossing the river, the old highway made a turn from NE to North.  Geyser's Road intersected the highway at that turn.  Now they have Geyser's road taking up a few miles of the old road to connect with the new highway.  
     Going through Sonoma County, old US 101 is pretty much all there.  Starting south working north, access the old highway by getting on Petaluma Blvd.  It takes you through Petaluma and then criss-crosses the freeway just north of town.  Then it turns due north going around Meacham Hill and through the town of Penngrove and it later takes you through Cotati.  In the old days Rohnert Park didn't exist.  I believe it was founded in 1962.  Through Rohnert Park, I think the old highway was buried by the current freeway up until the Santa Rosa Ave Exit just north of Rohnert Park. Then, old 101 exists all the way through Santa Rosa as Santa Rosa Ave, and Mendocino Ave.  Then it becomes Old Redwood Highway, paralleling the freeway to the east.   After passing through Windsor, it goes under the freeway and then runs parallel West of the freeway until close to Healdsburg.  There it goes under again, becomes Healdsburg Ave and goes right through town.  Out of Healdsburg, it continues east of the freeway and then drops down into Alexander Valley towards Geyserville.  Through the valley the freeway buries the old highway in spots.  So to travel it you'll have to jockey here and there at interchanges.  After Geyserville, it continues on by Asti and criss-crosses the freeway entering Cloverdale but I think the freeway blocks it."

Thanks Eric for the great observations and comments.

 
     I have a cousin that lives over in the San Diego area.  Unbeknownst to my dear family members, I often stray a little on my ways to and from their place!    One of these little side jaunts took me up to the San Juan Capistrano area between L.A. and San Diego.  What a fascinating day that was!  

    Highway 101 in this area overlaid a historic trail network once known as the 'El Camino Real'-the King's Road.  Used by Spanish missionaries in the mid-late 1700's, the Camino Real once linked a vast network of small communities and missions from Northern Mexico to what would become the Sonoma area of California north of San Francisco.  The area around San Juan Capistrano was first explored by Senor Juan Gaspar de Portola in 1769.  Other Spanish explorers and missionaries followed and the lovely San Juan Capistrano mission was established in 1776 - the same year the fledgling U.S.A. declared it's independence two thousand miles east.  At one time, the mission's main sanctuary was the largest stone structure west of the Mississippi, but a devastating earthquake in 1812 destroyed much of the mission (see pic) and killed many.  That event, coupled with the Mexican revolution in 1821, left many portions of the once grand cathedral in ruins.  

    Today, the mission is lovingly cared for by a small group of dedicated local townspeople and is supported by the admission price to the mission grounds and ruins.  Well worth the $12 admission, leave yourself 2-3 hours to wander around the beautiful grounds and explore the ruins and gardens as people have been doing for decades (see old linen postcard-no PM). 

    Many more photos to scan in, so I'll have new material sooner or later!  Until then, click on one of the links below to check out the rest of my site!